What you need to know about Sam Nivola from The White Lotus's love life
Head’s up: Following his breakout roles in The Perfect Couple and season 3 of The White Lotus, you’re about to start seeing actor Sam Nivola eve-ry-where. Naturally, you might have a few questions about the relative newcomer, such as...is he single? Sry, friends, but the 21-year-old is currently taken by Iris Apatow — and if that name sounds familiar to you, that’s probs because she has famous parents...and a famous sister...and a famous best friend...and is also famous in her own right. No biggie!
Sam and Iris first debuted their relationship on IG in April 2024, which is when Sam posted a round-up of pics from when Iris visited him in Thailand while filming The White Lotus.
Six months later, the couple stepped out for the Burberry 57th Street store reopening, cementing themselves as an ~official power couple.~
So who is Iris? Let’s get into it!
Iris is an actress
Like Sam, Iris is an actress whose roles include Arya Hopkins in the Netflix series Love, Krystal Kris in the 2022 Netflix film The Bubble, and Georgia in the Netflix series Unstable.
Coming up, you can expect to see her in the thriller move Ballerina Overdrive alongside a cast that includes Lana Condor, Maddie Ziegler, and Avantika, among others.
She has famous parents
Also like Sam (whose parents are actors Alessandro Nivola and Emily Mortimer), Iris is the daughter of two famous folks: filmmaker Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann.
During a January 2025 interview with British Vogue, Sam joked about their shared status as nepotism babies, referring to their friend group as “some secret cabal of nepo kids who hang out in black robes.”
Oh, and you’re probably also familiar with Iris’s older sister, Maude Apatow, who’s best known for her role as Lexi Howard on Euphoria.
She also has a famous best friend
Though it’s unclear how they first met, Iris has been besties with pop star Olivia Rodrigo since at least 2019, and they’ve been going strong ever since.
Most recently in January 2025, Iris and Liv went on an epic group trip to Mustique along with their boyfriends — Sam and Louis Partridge, respectively — as well as mutual friend Tate McRae, Tate’s boyfriend The Kid LAROI, and actor and dancer Findlay McConnell.
She supported Sam at the White Lotus season 3 premiere
On 10th February, Iris joined Sam on the red carpet for the season 3 premiere of The White Lotus, where they looked adorably in love:
Oh, and she joined him at the after-party, too, ‘cause why wouldn’t she??
Couldn’t be more obsessed if I tried, truly.
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